Through The Eyes of a Lap Dragon
by Alice W. Rabbit
Summary: How is life on Berk for the smallest dragon? How will Merclaw's life change once she meets Asa? Told through the eyes of a Terrible Terror. Tuffnut/OC. Rated T just as a precaution. REVIEWS WANTED
1. Chapter 1

Prelude

Dragons aren't famous for their way with words. Most of us are silent, except for our occasional burp or grunt. That's why it's hard for me to recount my tale to you, but, I feel that something must be said for the last will and testament to the most gentle girl I've ever met.

But I'm getting ahead of myself here. Before I can tell you how the story ends, I must tell you how it begins; or, so I've concluded from the way humans understand things. Dragons minds can handle much more complexity when communicating, we sometimes forget you humans need a little background before we dive right into a story.

Chapter One

I don't know where Asa came from, or why her foreign vikings came to Berk, but I thank the stars every night that they did. I was just a tiny hatchling when Their ships reached our shores. My mother was a very proud dragon, a fearless Terrible Terror, and was one of the first dragons to greet them. I wish I could have seen them then, but I could barely walk, let alone find my way to the shore. So I sat in the nest with the rest of my brood, squaking and wondering what all the fuss was about.

My nest was situated in the rafters of the great hall, where all the meetings took place. My mother told us all, my siblings and I, that it was a great honor to be alowed to roost there, and so we were very mindful to stay out of the way of the vikings. This mostly meant we were to stay in the nest at all times. Well, it was very boring up there, to say the least, but our fear of our mothers wrath kept us in place.

I knew there was something different about me ever since my siblings and I first stretched our wings. Not different in a good way, like how Bluefang had bigger wings that Mousegut, and not different in a weird way, like how Feardown's wings were bright blue while the rest of his body was golden. My wings were different in a _wrong_ way. My left wing worked just fine, it flapped and stretched all right, but my right wing wouldn't, couldn't move, no matter how hard I tried. My mother told me I wasn't trying hard enough, but deep down I knew what was really the matter, I was broken. My siblings knew it too. They all made fun of me, nipped at my bad wing, smacked me with their tails. And when it was time to fly from the rooste, I watched as they all left me behind, snickering and sneering over their shoulders.

I naturally couldn't fly down from our nest, and it was too far to jump, so, as embarrassing as it was, my mother had to haul me down by the scales of my neck. To make matters worse, she decided it was time to kick me out of the nest right as all the vikings were gathered below for a meeting. They all saw as I had to be carried down by my mother, and made those terrible noises that humans make when they're amused.

I was a ground-bound dragon after that. It would have been alright for me, if not for the fact that there was not a single dragon smaller than me. Terrible Terrors are naturally smaller than the other breeds of dragon, but I seemed to be the smallest Terrible Terror on the island! Even Snothawk, the oldest, sickliest dragon in Berk, was smaller than me!

Dragon mothers give each hatchling a name as they are born. Weather it's the name humans call him by or not, it is the name that all Dragons are to adress him by. But my mother had not named me when I was born. My mother was a clever dragon, and did not name any of her children before she got to know them. Mousegut got her name from when a mouse crawled into the nest, and she had been freightened of it. Feardown got his name from when he fell out of the nest, and cried for two weeks straight about it. Bluefang stole a hoard of berries Mother had been saving and smeared blue berry juice all over his teeth. Even Silenthook, who got his name from the way he hatched silently, without making a sound. But my Mother was also a cruel dragon. She did not name me until the day she dragged me out of the nest. From that day forward, I was to be named Wreckedwing.

Of coarse I was the laughing stock of the dragon community. No dragon could resist making ajoke out of my name. Even the nightfury, who only went by his human-given name, Toothless, couldn't help but jeer. But I didn't blame them. What was a dragon without it's wings? If it's been me in their position, I would have laughed too.

The water was my only solitude. When I dived below the cold waves, all the laughing ceased, and I could just disapear under the mercifully silent water. That is, until I needed to come up for air. But as I grew, I found that I could handle being under water for longer and longer periods of time. And while I couldn't fly above ground, I could soar under the water, and soon made a reputation for myself: I was the fastest swimming dragon on Berk. I could have even rivaled a sea serpant, a little-seen cousin of the dragon. I could catch any fish in the sea, and could touch the sandy bottom of the ocean, and still have air to spare. That's how I received my human-given name, Merclaw. While some dragons still only refur to me as Wreckedwing, most now adress me as Merclaw, for, like my mother, I had developed quite the temper. Sometimes, the only way to deal with stupidity was violence, and very few dared cross me by the time I'd reached adulthood.

There were quite a few Terrible Terrors on Berk. Almost every home had at least one, for we are excelent pest control. A house full of mice is a feast for a Terrible Terror, and it made the Vikings pleased to have a clean home. So most adopted a Terrible Terror once we could fly. But, I was a horrible mouser, I just couldn't scamper fast enough to catche them! And that was why for the first part of my adult life, I was homeless. I mostly slept under sheds or on doorsteps, and almost every Viking knew me as 'Merclaw, that pest who doesn't have a home'. Many of them took a swing at me from time to time, especially the young ones. The nightfury's human was kind and mildmannered, but had little to do with me, as did his mate, the yellow-haired woman. The larger human, the Gronkle's rider, always had some tidbit of food for me, and would occasionally let me sit in his lap, but the Gronkle was a jelous dragon and never let me stay for long.

The worst of the children were the identical humans and the ugly human. Now, as a dragon, I have very little sence of beauty, especially in a human face, but even by dragon standards, he was ugly. The two siblings were not much better. I believe I've seen the female sibling looking pleasant once or twice, but the male always has such a look of displeasure! The siblings had a dragon of their own, a zippleback, and they were always trying to crush me under it's giant feet. They took great amusment in seeing me scamper about, trying to avoid being mashed into the dirt. The ugly human had a Nightmare, Fireworm was her name, and she had a face to match his. They were more subtle in their ploys to humiliate me. For one, Fireworm has never called me by my human-given name, and the human, oh, he is cruel! He would set pieces of food out for me, and wait until I got close enough to snatch them up. He would then have fireworm try to roats me with her fire! I've always gotten out, mostly unscathed, but the teasing from any dragons who witnessed it would last for weeks!

Smaller humans would chase me and pull my tail, but their fun was innocent enough; their attempts to play were not malicious. But the anger of the parent vikings would soon lead me to believe that these children were just luring me in to the parent's traps.

This was about the time when Asa and her vikings came. I'd been alive for three winters when their ships broke the horizon. By that time in my life, I'd picked up alittle of the human-speak, and there was a lot of "Look!"s and "Hey!"s and mostly "Stand back!"s from Stoik, the cheifton. I didn't have the foggiest idea of what the ships were doing here, I hadn't seen any leave in a long time, and I didn't understand that these weren't Berk's ships at all. But I knw something was amiss when maybe a hundred vikings filed out onto the shore.

There was a lot of talk I didn't understand, and it all eventually ended with many amused sounds from Stoik and a big man that had come from the ships. The people from the ships did not look happy at all to see all us dragons, especially when Feardown set one male's beard on fire.

Now that I think about it, I might've seen Asa then. I can't quite remember, it was so crowded and chaotic, it might've been Elli, who dressed a lot like Asa, but I'm pretty sure I say her standing next to the man that was talking to Stoik. I later learned that man was named Baltron, and he was both Asa's father and the Cheifton of the foreign Vikings. Baltron was a great deal shorter, and fatter, than Stoik, as were most of the new vikings. Asa was not fat at all, though. She was tiny, just like me.

Well, at the time, I was just peaved that the ships were in the way of my favorite fishing route, scarring off the fish, no doubt. But I knew something big was happening when the vikings went to the meeting hall. Big things always happen after meetings. Only Baltron and the other males and older females went though. Asa, Elli and many of the other young humans stayed on the shore with Berk's young humans. The first positive memory I have of Asa was when she screamed when the nighfury nudged her hand. I'm not sure why, but it made me happy to see another being that disliked the bigger dragons as well.

Asa was about a head shorter than the nightfury's human, and had lighter colored hair. Elli was even shorter than Asa, and a bit stouter, and had black, fuzzy hair. She had a smile like a Nightmare though, and I remember instantly distrusting that human. At first, I stayed my distance, I didn't want to be seen by these new humans and gain myself new tormentors. As the sun sunk lower into the sea (Something which I never understood, for I could never see nor catch the sun once it was under water) the males filed out of the meeting hall and yelled for silence. Stoik made a few quick sounds, to which everyone cheered for, and then shook the hand of Baltron, to which everyone cheered for louder. I didn't know it, but my world was about to change, forever.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

The ships on the shore were soon taken apart. Berk already had many ships out in the bay, and even so, we barely needed them. Dragons were a far more efficient way of traveling. So the new Vikings ships were demolished and the wood used to start constructing new houses. Now, I'm still a bit fuzzy on the details, but from what I've gathered throughout my years in Berk is that the New Vikings, the 'Danes', could not stay in their village across the sea any longer, and had migrated here. Why anyone would want to come to Berk is beyond me, but that just means that their old home must have been much worse.

It only took a few days for the new houses to go up. First, it was a grand structure that went up right next to Stoick's house. That was where Asa and Baltron lived. I remember peeking through their windows on several occasions to see Asa cleaning or sewing or reading and Baltron playing cards with one of the Vikings from Berk. From what I could tell, Asa and her father were on relatively good terms.

Next came several smaller houses, where several families would stay. They weren't crowded though; Viking families are pretty small. These were the houses of the common Danish Vikings, and many families stayed that way until more houses could be constructed.

I was under the impression that these Danes had never seen a dragon before. Even the men seemed wary of us, and the females would shriek if we got too near. The younger the human, though, the less afraid they seemed to be. The bravest were the smallest children, who would dart right out and touch the nose of a waiting Nadar or Zippleback. No dragons ever bit children; it was almost like an unspoken rule among us. So we weathered the pokes and prods of the curious youngsters, even going so far as to give some a ride. And that brings me to the next milestone in me and Asas relationship.

The nightfury's human was very excited to get the new young humans to fly on a dragon. I can't understand why, but that didn't matter. Within days of their arrival, Toothless's human had matched up Elli with Bumbletail, a green Gronkle, Tallfin with a small Nightmare and Krinklenose with Gangle, a long-necked Zippleback. The only human who he'd failed to match was Asa.

I'd seen Asa shrink away from Toothless's touch, and run from a curious nadar, and thought that she would be the only Viking without a dragon. None of the other dragons wanted her; they saw her as weak, spineless, wimpy. They all wanted a strong rider, who could steer them with confidence, not cowardice. It wasn't a problem though. Asa refused to ride any dragon, despite the pleas of her father and Toothless's human. And that was why I didn't think we'd ever become friends.

It was about a week after Asa arrived, when Toothless's human snatched me up from a shady doorstep. I couldn't understand his words, but, I knew he wouldn't hurt me, so I kept my struggling to a minimum and tried not to burn him too badly. He held fast, and plopped me down right into Asa's arms. Her hands were so tiny, her arms skinny as twigs, but strong like boulders. I tried my best to look big and fearsome, and even stretched my wings a bit, which were stiff from disuse, but all that got me was a few amused noises from the humans. But, I did understand the human's next words: "She's spunky. Her name is Merclaw." They were talking about me. I looked up at Asa, who was stretching her face into a distorted grimace. It looked strange and menacing to me, but I'd come to know by that time that it was a good thing when a human did this at you. Called a smill or something.

She and the male human talked a bit more, and I heard my name a few more times, along with a few other words I understood, and then he left. And I was left alone with Asa.

Her voice was not like the voices of the other Vikings. Even the females from Berk had gruff, gravely voices that made listening to them squawk feel like rubbing grit in your ears. Her voice was not even like the 'Danes' voices, which were loud and booming. No, Asa's voice was quiet and soft and sounded exactly like how water felt on scales; cool and calming. It made me relaxed to listen to her coo and kaw at me.

I was a bit wary of her at first. I knew she wouldn't hurt me; she had the same mild mannerisms as the nightfury's human, and she was always 'smilling' at me. I was wary though, because I'd lived without much human contact for so long, I didn't really know how to trust one. But it felt nice to sleep inside a house for once and not just on a doorstep. Baltron took a great liking in me as well, though I could tell he wasn't pleased that I wasn't bigger. But he never stepped on me, which must have taken some skill, what with him being so stout and clumsy-footed.

For the first few days, I barely let Asa touch me. I would scamper away from her and hide under a bed or in a cupboard. But Asa didn't seem to mind. She never yelled at me, never swatted at me, and she always left food out on the table for me to eat. She even sang to me on occasion, which I liked. But she never sang when her father or another Viking was around. She didn't even sing to the other dragons, just to me. I couldn't understand the words, but it sounded lovely all the same.

Little by little, I warmed up to me human. First, it was as simple as not skittering away from her feet, then taking food from her hand, then sitting in her lap. She liked to scratch my scales (and I can't say I disliked it!) and I even purred for her.

It is a little-known fact that dragons can, in fact, purr. We just don't do it often. But I started purring for Asa, and it just took off from there. It wasn't long before I was showing her my swimming skills. She seemed genuinely surprised to see me zigzag through the waves, and I found that I was pleased that SHE was pleased. In only a matter of a few months, one spring, and I'd already become friends with my first human.

I don't know much about human affection or relationships, but Asa didn't seem to give much attention to any of her human companions. She spent most of her time with me, down by the docks or on the outskirts of town, watching me scamper about. I knew she was friends with that untrustworthy human, Elli, and that she got on well with the nightfury's human, whose name I'd never quite learned. It was something like Burp, but that wasn't the exact translation from human to dragon. Many words like that were lost.

Anyway, she didn't seem to care much for the company of other humans. She also didn't talk all that much with Baltron. It wasn't because she was angry with her father, I don't think Asa was capable of anger; she just didn't have much to say to him. This concerned me greatly. I knew what isolation could do to someone, and I certainly didn't want Asa to go through the same ordeal I did. I loved Asa very much, and I knew that living alone was…well…lonely. And I had a plan to make sure this never happened to her, but, it would take some time, planning, and a few favors to take flight.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Up until this point, I hadn't talked to many of the other dragons. I was mostly indifferent to them, in the beginning because I didn't want to be mocked, and then because I had Asa to be with. But when I needed things done, there were a few dragons I could count on.

The first was an ornery Nadar named Quickscale. He was very grumpy, and very old, but he was one of the only dragons who had never called me by the cruel name of Wreckedwing. He was always reliable in a pinch, and had powerful connections to some of the older and more influential dragons in Berk. The second was a small, annoyingly cheerful Terror called Spotwock. She was always nice to me, even if I'd never been very nice to her. She had a way with communicating, and could eventually get any dragon to do anything for her. Lastly, there was Snifflesnark. He was a young Gronkle who had the bad habit of sneezing fireballs out randomly. It caused quite the commotion in Berk when he set Stoick's house aflame, but he somehow always got himself out of trouble.

With my oddball team of dragons by my side, I set out to set my plan rolling. I never wanted Asa to grow apart from her human companions, but all she seemed to want to do was spend time with me, which was alienating her from the other humans. So I set them out to spy on the other young bipeds.

Quickscale was a clever old dragon, and he knew the largest vocabulary of human words out of all the Dragons in Berk, which made him perfect for the job. I asked him to sneak about and learn what the other humans thought of Asa. He was reluctant, but I finally convinced him. It didn't take long for him to report back, saying that not one of the Humans had said anything regarding her.

He did report something quite interesting, though. For the last few days, Asa had woke me up early in the morning to listen to music we had heard coming from the forest surrounding Berk. She would get a distant look in her eyes and Smill a lot, so I took it that she liked this music a lot. Well, when Quickscale reported back, he informed me as to where this music was coming from.

It would seem that the male twin human, Tuffnut, Quickscale told me, was not as fearsome as he'd made himself out to be. I didn't know what it was when Quickscale told me, but Tuffnut was the one making the music through and instrument called a 'bone flute'. Bone flute sounded more like a food than something that made music, but Quickscale told me, and I believed him. And so, phase two of my plan was launched.

I had to wake up even earlier than Asa to see if Tuffnut was really the one creating the music, and sure enough, when I stalked into the forest, there he was; sitting cross-legged on a big boulder, holding something that looked like a twig up to his face. The sound was coming from his mouth, but his lips weren't moving, so I knew he wasn't singing. This action seemed almost comical to me. How could such a mean human make sounds that made Asa so happy? I still don't really understand what all the hype is about music, it's just sounds, but as soon as I returned to Asa's home, I saw her leaning out the window and Smilling, like usual.

The music stopped before the sun rose every day, so the next morning, I was awake just as the moon was being swallowed by the sea. The music had just started playing, and I woke Asa up. My plan was to drag her out into the forest so she could see Tuffnut making the sounds, and become friends with him.

Let's just say, my plan did not work out as planned. Asa is a very heavy sleeper, I discovered, and would not wake up until the first rays of dawn started appearing over the horizon. Once she did wake, she didn't want to set foot outside, and I couldn't get her out fast enough. By the time she had her boots on, the music was done, and I'd missed my chance.

This is where Spotwock came into play. I had her convince a young Zippleback to help me wake Asa the next morning. As I'd guessed, it worked like a charm. Asa sat bolt upright and was out of bed in a flash. She was spooked, but I got the feeling she finally understood what I wanted her to do. It was all downhill from there, and it was easy work to lead her to Tuffnut.

Something I had not anticipated, though, was Tuffnut's reaction. Instead of being happy that someone had been admiring his music, he started to shout angrily at Asa, and his face grew a nasty shade of red. Asa had been Smilling before, but now that Tuffnut was shouting, she shouted right back. I'd never heard her shout before, and although she was much shorter than Tuffnut, she actually caused him to flinch and recoil. She reminded me a bit of my mother: Small but fierce. It seemed like Tuffnut was unhappy that we'd found him, and he had thrown the flute on the ground. Their yells doubled, until they were both screaming at each other, at which point the other young bipeds had come to watch. I thought my plan was doomed by then, but, I was not anticipating what happened next, either.

Tuffnut's sister, Ruffnut as I learned, jumped right up next to Asa and started shouting at her brother, also! Asa seemed stunned for a moment, and then proceeded to yell again. It wasn't for another couple of minutes that they stopped, and only because Ruffnut punched her brother in the gut. For the next couple of days, I was so relieved to see Asa had made a companion, it almost didn't trouble me that the music we used to enjoy listening to ceased to play in the mornings.

The next few weeks seemed perfect to me. Although Asa didn't fawn over me to the same degree as she used to, she did spend more time with her friends. She often would go off with Ruffnut or Elli, and sometimes the large Viking, Fishlegs, to scamper around (or whatever it is that human youngsters do for fun). I often tagged along to watch, and I even made better acquaintances with the Gronkle, Horrorcrow, and the Zippleback, for whom I never learned a name. Even Tuffnut released his grudge on Asa and would join in, but he seemed wary of her somehow, and never really spoke to her much.

The only humans Asa didn't spend time with where the ugly human, Fireworm's human, or the nightfury's human and his mate. They kept their distance, for reasons I never really understood. It was somewhat puzzling, but I never took much notice. I was just elated to have Asa some friends!

Many more days passed like this. Though some days one child was sick and couldn't spend time with Asa, and some days Asa was feeling down and didn't want to spend time with her friends, almost all days were alike. It was a blissful time for me. Asa, who'd been so happy to be around me, was now happy to be around her companions, and her being happy made me happy. But there was something troubling me. It was a small inkling, but it wouldn't stop nagging at the edge of my mind.

Dragons do not have a good sense of human age. A Dragon can live for hundreds of years and still remain as youthful as their first year, but Humans age at a much faster rate, and it's hard for dragons to keep track of this. Before I knew it, Asa seemed quite a bit older to me. She no longer laughed as easily as she used to, and she spent much less time goofing around with her friends and much more time in her room with me. It seemed like she was regressing back to her old ways, and I was about to call Quickscale again, until I realized most of her friends were doing this too. Thought they expressed it in different ways (Tuffnut spent more time with his father, Ruffnut seemed to take a great liking to Fishlegs, and Toothless's human had moved out of Stoick's house to take up a home with the yellow-haired woman) I could tell; they were growing farther and farther apart. Even their appearances changed. Although Asa's face will always look the same to me, the twins grew out of the spots on their faces, Tuffnut cut his hair shorter, Fishlegs suddenly became less wide, and Ruffnut's hair became a shade darker. It was the most peculiar thing to me, because dragons don't change their appearance as rapidly as humans do. It was almost a shock!

Though their appearances changed, I could still tell they were the same humans on the inside. Tuffnut was still loud and boisterous, Ruffnut still held a rivalry with her brother, Fishlegs was still just as bookish and friendly. I was thankful for that, but I felt that there must have been something missing for Asa. It didn't hit me until one day, I witnessed a very odd occurrence.

Dragons have very simple, but affective ways of showing affection. A nudge, a snuggle, a purr, and that's mainly it. Human shows of affection always confused me, none more so than the kiss. Spotwock informed me of its name, because for the longest time, I thought it was some sort of show of hostility. I didn't see how a human biting another human's face was affectionate, but Spotwock assured me that all humans find it lovely. I doubted the flighty dragon at the time, but her words rang true for I saw Toothless's human 'kissing' the yellow hared woman one day. It was odd, to say the least.

But, since humans liked it so much, I'd wondered why Asa didn't find herself a mate to kiss. She was pretty, or so I thought, she was kind, she had a lovely singing voice, she was funny, accepting, what more could a human ask for? But she also had one quality that didn't strike me as anything out of the ordinary. Like me, when I was a younger dragon, she kept away from contact with her own species. Shy is the word, I believe. She was 'shy' around male humans, and that was what was keeping her from attracting a mate. Apparently, Viking males found shyness unattractive, which sounded believable. Ruffnut wasn't shy in the least, and she'd found herself Fishlegs.

I was a bit worried for her. It is a natural instinct for dragons to have offspring, so they can continue their species, but I wondered if that was also an instinct for humans. Maybe it wasn't, maybe they had no drive to reproduce. That couldn't be so, though! That thought made me very sad for Asa, who seemed to only want to sit up in her loft and sulk these days. She did not seem happy to me, although she always Smilled.

It had been about two years since Asa had arrived on the boats that I started looking for a mate for her. To dragons, age doesn't matter, but I knew Asa wouldn't want a male that was too old or too young. I narrowed the search down to a handful of Vikings: The ugly one (Snotlout), Tuffnut, and Fishlegs, (Though I had the feeling he had already been selected by Ruffnut). Not many prospective mates, I knew, but these seemed to be the only acceptable choices.

Well, really, Fishlegs was out. He was kind, but I knew Asa and Ruffnut's friendship would break if Asa were to take Fishlegs away. Snotlout…I just couldn't picture Asa with him. She was far too attractive and Kind!

And that only left Tuffnut. I didn't think that would work out, I knew that he was wary of Asa for some reason, but I did have a small idea. I remembered when Asa would wake up early to listen to his music, and how much she seemed to like it, and although Tuffnut got angry when she found out about him, I thought maybe, just maybe it'd be able to work out. And so began my newest plan for my human friend Asa.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Both Asa and I were females, and even though we weren't the same species, we still seemed to think a lot alike. But males…well, they were a different story. I'd seen human females get mad at males for the same sorts of reasons as dragons do; breaking something, saying something stupid, ect. And this is what made attracting Tuffnut so hard! I just couldn't figure out what that boy was thinking!

It didn't help that, as usual, Asa was oblivious to my plan. I wish I could have spoken human, sometimes that girl was so daft! But, with a little help from Snifflesnark, I was able to formulate a plan.

Snifflesnark was the dragon that reminded me of Tuffnut's ability to play music with that flute. He told me that if I could lure Tuffnut to Asa with that flute, I might be able to get him to play it for her. To me, this sounded ridiculous. But, I was willing to give it a shot; I didn't have any other ideas.

So, on a cold, snowy day right smack dab in the middle of winter, I snuck into the Thorson's house, (which was no easy matter! Snifflesnark had to distract the Zippleback while I crawled in through an open window), and started rummaging through chests and cupboards, looking for the tiny instrument. It was actually quite easy to locate, a dragon can smell a bone from miles, but by the time I'd dug it out from under a bed, it was already too late to realize I wasn't alone in the room.

Things happened very quickly after that. Tuffnut was howling, chasing me through the house, I was running blindly with the flute clamped in my mouth, and the Zippleback was creating quite the ruckus outside. I couldn't tell you how many things I knocked off shelves and how many chairs and tables Tuffnut over turned, but the whole hullabaloo reminded me of my younger years, when Tuffnut and Ruffnut would try to squish me with their Zippleback. For a brief moment, I stopped and asked myself, why was I trying to attract this boy to Asa, when I didn't even like him that much? But it was only for a moment. Sometimes, when you love someone like I loved Asa; you had to sacrifice things yourself.

Tuffnut was not joking around, I soon found out. He did not want me to get away with that flute, I could tell, even if his words were foreign. But I slipped out the window I'd come in from and took off running towards Asa's house. The snow on the ground certainly didn't help me, but, mercifully, it slowed Tuffnut down also. Put in the open, he wasn't yowling as much as indoors, and my guess was that he didn't want to call attention to himself.

I knew Asa was just inside the house, and I had to get her outside somehow. If I opened my mouth to roar, though, I would've dropped the flute, and if I just scrabbled at the door like I usually did, Asa wouldn't make it out in time to catch Tuffnut. I knew Tuffnut made music with the flute by blowing air into it, and so I tried it myself, hoping to make a lot of noise.

Unfortunately, it did nothing. I blew into it, but no sound came out at all! It was baffling, and I thought it was broken, and panicked. If it was broken, my plan wouldn't work, and Tuffnut would just hate me more! I skidded to a halt, a big mistake, and Tuffnut snatched me up into the air.

I do know some human, and I did hear "Stupid Dragon" and "Thief" and "Useless" in what Tuffnut shouted at me as he tried to wrench the flute from my jaws. I stubbornly hung on, though, and the entire racket Tuffnut was causing actually worked to my advantage. Asa opened the door and rushed out to save me from what must have looked like Tuffnut trying to strangle me.

Unlike what happened last time Asa had snuck up on Tuffnut making music, they didn't engage in a big shouting match. She took the flute and handed it right back to him! I couldn't believe it! My own human, sabotaging the plan to attract a mate! How could she? This was mutiny! I couldn't contain my outrage, and started shouting obscenities at them, at which, like usual, they made those amused noises. I was about to unleash a big breath of fire on them, until I realized what they were doing at each other. They were _Smilling_! Humans only did that when they were happy, and, also unlike last time, they didn't seem to be mad at each other. Asa was making more amused noises and Tuffnut was saying something to her, and I heard the word "cute".

Cute is not a real word in dragon's language, but it translates to something similar to pretty and small. Tuffnut was referring to me! He was calling me cute, to Asa, when only a minute ago, he'd called me a stupid useless thief! I rolled my eyes, and gave up my struggle. Technically, I'd achieved what I'd wanted, to have Asa and Tuffnut be on good terms, but it didn't feel like such a victory to me. All I learned that day was that human males were fickle.

Unlike when Asa had made friends for the first time, I was not all that happy when she started spending more and more time with Tuffnut. Oh sure, I was happy to see that Asa wasn't sulking alone in her house anymore, but, I was just unhappy with myself. Maybe I should have picked Snotlout…at least he was consistent.

The only problem I had with Tuffnut was that whenever Asa was around, he treated me just like a pet. It almost seemed like he liked me when she was around! But whenever she left, he wanted nothing to do with me.

I really shouldn't complain. He never called me names, or, at least not cruel ones. Sure, he called me lazy and mean, but…I was lazy and mean. I can't dislike the boy for being dishonest. And, to be honest, he grew on me. Mostly because he made Asa so happy! She was always smilling and making those amused sounds around him, and being around Tuffnut renewed her friendship with Ruffnut, which was a perk I hadn't anticipated, but greatly appreciated.

Tuffnut seemed to benefit from the relationship as well. Those deep furrow lines on his forehead from scowling so much disappeared, and his teeth even straightened a bit. I didn't know how, but Quickscale and I hypothesized that it was because he always used to grind his teeth when he was angry, and the absence of reason to be angry made him quit. I will say this; the he looked far more attractive without the giant frown.

When I had been living on my own, before I met Asa, everyday had been a struggle, with individual torments and obstacles. Now, life was so easy and carefree, days melted into weeks, weeks into months, and before I knew it, an entire year had passed. It took me by surprise how much all the children of Berk grew in such a short time. It was a repeat of last year, the time, the shock, the growth. The difference was that now, Asa had Tuffnut, and things weren't so unstable with her.

It was about that time when I started wondering how old Asa was in years. She was pretty tall, for Danish standards, but she always cut her hair short, so I couldn't judge her age by how long it was. She chewed her nails, too, and so that was out. I wasn't able to tell, but, It'd been about three and half years since I'd met her, and I was about five years, so I basically based it off of the assumption she was Tuffnut's age when she arrived. I wasn't precisely sure about his age either, but I'd guess he was maybe 16 when she arrived. So that meant Asa was now 19 and a half years old.

Technically, she dwarfed me in age, but Terrible Terrors hit adulthood within the first year of their life, so I was, strictly speaking, older than her. And while I had no desire for any hatchlings (too much trouble for too few rewards) I knew that Asa must have had some desire. I may be a dragon, but I'm not stupid, nor am I blind, and I could tell Asa was expecting a litter. Or whatever it is you humans call a grouping of offspring.

I, naturally, was very happy for her! I knew she was kind enough and gentle enough to become a mother, unlike my own mother, but, there was a problem with this pregnancy. Humans have many strange rituals that make no sense to us dragons, such as your union ceremony. Dragon fathers usually don't stick around to see the brood, but when one does care enough about the female to stay, that's just it. There's no joining ceremony, other males just know to stay away from that particular female. But you humans seem to like making things overly complicated. And apparently, it is looked down on to have children without being officially joined to the father. I have no idea why, but that was the problem here.

Asa and Tuffnut were not joined officially, and this caused quite the uproar in Asa's home. Her father was a respected man in Berk, being the chiefton of half of the inhabitants, and was not happy in the least about this child. He and Asa fought quite a bit in the beginning, then for a time they didn't speak at all, and then, the shouting part started back up. I remember the very last night Asa stayed in her home. Her father was really yelling at her, and Asa had been sick all day, doubled over with stomach pains, and, she just walked out. No words left her mouth; she just grabbed a few things from her room, picked me up from the ground, and carried me out of the house.

I guessed where she was going before his house was in sight. She knocked on Tuffnut's door (Tuffnut was living by himself at this point, his parents kicked him out about a year before) and just put her things in his house. The house was pretty small, and was not decorated or painted or anything; it was very plain. But Asa was happier here than at her home, so I had to put up with the lack of visual stimulation. Tuffnut was very kind to her, and I heard him say "Stupid", "Mean", and "Idiot" to her. I knew he was referring to her father, and it made me feel better to hear that, but Asa just grew that more pale.

Those next few days, I got very little sleep. It was my policy to never sleep while Asa was awake, and wake up as soon as she did, and she didn't sleep much either. She seemed very sick to me, and Tuffnut called the healer up several times, but the healer would just smill and say words that sounded very assuring. I assumed it was just a part of the pregnancy.

I started to spend more time with Tuffnut, and, really, the boy started to seem alright to me. He would play that flute for me, and though it sounded like nothing but noise to me, I knew it must have been beautiful to human ears. I think he started to accept me, because he and Asa were having a child.

The day Asa started to go into labor, the season was changing from winter to spring. Asa's belly was absolutely huge, and I'd eavesdropped on the Zippleback talking between its two heads, speculating that she might be carrying twins. I thought this was very fascinating, since Tuffnut had been a twin himself.

I'd never seen a human give birth before, and was excited for the baby to arrive. Asa had had a verbal fight with the healer to let me stay (the healer didn't 'approve' of dragons) and I took my rightful place on the wooden headboard of Asa's bed. Ruffnut was standing nearby, talking softly to Asa, and Tuffnut was somewhere pacing outside of the house. I felt bad for him; I know I would have been worried out of my mind if I'd been forced outside.

Since I'd never laid any eggs myself, I had had no idea how painful birth must have been! I assumed that she would have the baby and be on her way, but it took a very long time. Everyone kept cooing and cawing at her, and squeezing her hands. Asa kept shrieking and screaming, and the look on her face made me want to throw up! But I couldn't take my eyes off of her, and, while I was focusing on her face, I had completely missed the baby being born. The only alert I had was the wailing of the child.

The baby was very ugly. I thought, since it was Asa's, that it would be born beautiful, but it was all pink and hairless and slimy, and was wailing up a storm! I swear, it was screaming so loud, it almost drowned out Asa's screaming.

Which was odd. The baby was born, so why was she still in pain? The healer wrapped the baby in a blanket and handed it to Ruffnut and then continued to talk to Asa in that soft voice. I was puzzled, until I heard a second baby crying. This baby was not nearly as loud as the first, its cry was almost a song, it was so soft. It was smaller than the first, and the Healer handed that baby to Ruffnut, too, who was now juggling both children in her arms and looking quite distressed.

The healer turned to Asa once more, and after a few more minutes, the third and final baby was born. This child was the smallest of all, and had a very high, shrill scream. It wailed only for a minute, though, and then, of all things, fell asleep! Also, unlike the other hairless youngsters, it had a tiny tuft of yellow-ish hair on its head.

The Zippleback had been right! Asa was not having a single baby, and she wasn't having twins, she had had _triplets_! It really was a litter of children, and when Tuffnut was finally allowed in to see her, he was ecstatic! His Smill stretched all the way across his face, and he couldn't take his eyes off the three little bundles.

The first baby, the only boy, was named Tuffgrip, after his father and after the fact that he managed to rip a fistful of Tuffnut's hair out. He had blue eyes, like Tuffnut. The middle baby, a girl, was named Tune after her melodic cry. Her eyes were brown like Asa's, and she had those speckles on her face, just like the ones Tuffnut had had as a child. The third, smallest baby was named Giggle by Ruffnut, because when the first thing she did after waking up was let out a shrill amused sound (which I guess is called a giggle.) Her small tuft of hair was blonde and her eyes were blue. I learned all of their names quickly, because it was very hard to tell them all apart, and I needed to know who it was that had spit up on me or pulled out the scales at the base of my tail.

My life was about to become far more hectic than I was used to.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Human babies are adorable, even by dragon standards. I really loved those little squishy babies! And even as toddlers they showed their own individual personalities!

Tuffgrip was the first to get his teeth in, and loved t sneak up behind me and chew on my tail. It didn't hurt, of course, they were just baby teeth, and Asa thought this was very amusing. Tuffgrip was the leader of the three. If he started crying, they all started crying. If he was being fed, they all wanted to be fed. If he was being rocked to sleep, you'd better bet that Tune and Giggle wanted to be rocked, too. Tuffnut and Asa only has so many hands, sometimes I wished I could help them.

Tune was the quietest of the three. She rarely cried, and when she did it was short lived and soft. Her crying did really remind me of Tuffnut's flute music. Her name was fitting.

Giggle was defiantly my favorite, though. She never pulled my scales or chewed on my tail. She would peer out over her mother's elbow to stare at me, and whenever I did anything (it could be sleeping, walking, eating, jumping, growling, ANYTHING) she would giggle. It made me feel special to make her giggle, because out of all the children, she resembled my beloved Asa the most. Though her voice sounded more like Ruffnut's, I could tell she would grow up to be just like her mother.

The babies soon started to sprout hair on their heads. (Except for Giggle, who just started sprouting more hair on her head). Tuffgrip had brown spiky hair, like Giggle and Asa, and Tune had smooth, thin yellow hair, like Tuffnut. It was wonderfully surprising to see how much these children were growing to look like their parents!

But babysitting these youngsters was no easy task, especially once they started walking and talking. They would go everywhere! Tuffgrip seemed to have figured out a way to get out of the house and on several occasions, I was sent to chase him down as he ran through Berk! Tune was the cleverest of the siblings, and, unfortunately, picked up several words from her father that Asa did NOT like. I don't know what they were, but when Tune said them, Asa went into a flying rage at Tuffnut and kicked him out for the night. Giggle was the best at climbing things, and subsequently, she was also the best at falling off of things. All of this was very stressful, especially for such a small family with a small dragon.

During this time, Asa was very grumpy. She barely had any time to spend with me anymore; all her time was taken up with her children. I didn't blame her for that at all, though. Children are quite a handful; especially three of them! Tuffnut seemed like he wanted to help, too, but didn't really know how. I'd seen him trying to change a diaper a few times, and failing. He was an awkward father, to say the least. But he was trying, so I guess I couldn't blame him for that, either.

Time moved painfully slow that year. Asa and Tuffnut seemed delighted whenever the children would hit another milestone: eat solid food, say words, walk, speak in sentences, and so forth, but I was very uninterested in that stuff. I wanted this baby stage to be over and done with as soon as possible, I wanted someone to play with again!

That wish didn't get fulfilled until the children were about 5 years old. That was the day Asa didn't insist on accompanying them outside to play, but instead sent me out after them to watch over them. That was the first real milestone to me; the day Asa stopped worrying about them.

There were several other children of similar ages in Berk by now. There was Gilda, who was six and the child of Elli and Snotlout (I still don't understand why Elli chose Snotlout. She was just as attractive as Asa, she could have done much better with one of the Danish Vikings) and there was Littlestink, the four year old offspring of Ruffnut and Fishlegs. There was also one other child in Berk, Marnie, the child of the nightfury's rider, but she was seven and decidedly too old to play with the younger humans.

For a while (and by a while a mean a few months) my brood of children did nothing but chase me around. At first, I thought it was 'cute', but after about a week of being hounded by a group of youngsters, it started to tire me out. Many of the other dragons found this hilarious and would poke fun at me, but what could I do? I couldn't snap at the children, I wouldn't. And, if the children were happy, then Asa was happy. And if Asa was happy, I was happy, too. So I suffered through the constant chase, until they grew bored and migrated down to the shore.

This had been a bad idea from the start, but every time I tried to nudge Tuffgrip back in the direction of home, he'd shrug me off and keep walking. Oh, at first it was fine. The dug in the sand, found interesting shells, splashed in the shallows. Littlestink even caught himself a minnow! But once Tuffgrip had his mind set on learning to swim, there was no convincing him otherwise.

Tuffgrip was not fat. He was actually pretty boney, but he was at least twice my size, and you try dragging a struggling human twice your size through the water. Once he'd been swept out by a wave, he'd realized how much trouble he'd gotten himself into and started crying out for help. Tune led the other youngsters back to the house to get her mother, and it was up to me to save Tuffgrip from drowning. I was more annoyed then worried. It was still far too shallow for him to drown, but he was panicking and not using his head, as usual. I dove into the water and grabbed him by the sleeve and started dragging. I had him almost to the sand by the time Asa and Tuffnut rushed up.

Boy was I in trouble. I thought she would be grateful I'd saved her son from himself, but after she'd made sure Tuffgrip was alright, she rounded on me and started shouting! At me! I'd NEVER had Asa shout at me before, and it upset me a lot! She used one word that really stung: "Worthless". She'd called me worthless, and it brought back memories of the taunts of the other dragons, back when my name was still Wreckedwing.

She eventually calmed down and took the children home, but I stayed on the beach. My heart hurt too much to go back. It was as if I'd regressed all the way back to my earlier years, when I was still mistrustful of humans. I didn't want to see Asa, hear Asa, and even think about Asa. I just wanted to disappear. And that is exactly what I did. I drifted out with the tide and just floated. It must have been miles; I floated, out into the cold, open sea. By the time I started caring again, dawn was approaching, and I couldn't see shore anymore. I couldn't even see the mountain! I was all alone, out in the open sea, with no idea how to get back home! I was worried for me, all right, but I was more worried about what my humans would think when I didn't return! Would they think I abandoned them? What if they got another dragon? I couldn't let that happen! I had to get back home, even if I was just a 'worthless' dragon.


End file.
